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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on October 3, 2012 at 5:46pm

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on October 6, 2012 at 1:21pm

New information suggests that the intensity of storms coming off the oceans will rise, and that will become an important factor in predicting drought and intense rainfall events.

Weather-Making High-Pressure Systems Predicted to Intensify

High-pressure systems over oceans, which largely determine the tracks of tropical cyclones and hydrological extremes in much of the northern hemisphere, are likely to intensify this century,...

...they could play an increasingly important role in shaping regional climate, particularly the occurrence of drought and extreme summer rainfall, in coming years.

According to the simulations, these high-pressure systems will intensify over the 21^st century as a result of increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations. The simulations suggest that an increase in the land-sea thermal contrast -- the difference between ocean and land heating, as Earth's climate warms -- will fuel the systems' intensification. [emphasis mine]